


Whirlwind

by Nishinoya4Yuu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi is protective of Bokuto, Coffee Shop, Friendship, Gen, Just some fluffy slice of life of Oikawa working in a coffee shop, KUROO IS A DORK, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Nishinoya and Tanaka are ridiculous, Slice of Life, not an au, open mic night, r/haikyuu secret santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-26 00:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16208834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nishinoya4Yuu/pseuds/Nishinoya4Yuu
Summary: Oikawa Tooru fills his days during his University break by working in a coffee shop. Even when he thinks it will be a bit boring, it seems like a whirlwind of activity and chaos always seems to find him. Which is fine, except that he gets the sneaking suspicion that there may be more to the story than all that.





	Whirlwind

**Author's Note:**

> This is my gift for u/jinaxisotaku on Reddit for the 2018 Digital Gift Exchange! I included as many of the listed favorite character and ships and interests as I could!

The bell on the door jangled and the words left Oikawa’s mouth before he even looked up. “How can I help yo...Oh...it’s you,” he sneered as he finally took his eyes off his magazine and saw his customer. 

“The fuck, dude? Is that really how you greet customers?” 

“And what about you? Aren’t you supposed to be greeting customers?” Oikawa stood up and without bothering to ask began making the customer’s favorite, a drink surprisingly sweet for his tough appearance. 

“It’s fiiiinnnneeee,” Tanaka Ryuunosuke drawled out as he anxiously peeked out the window and looked at the guitar shop across the street. “Not a single person all day. You know how it is.” He dug his hands into his deep pockets and pulled out a mess of change and unceremoniously tossed it in the tray on the counter. 

“Ugh, you really are vile, didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” Oikawa pushed the mocha frappe covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce over the counter towards Tanaka and grabbed the mess of coins out of the tray. He wasn’t sure why he bothered to count, Tanaka always paid in exact change. 

Tanaka greedily grabbed the drink and sucked a hefty amount through the straw. “My manners are fine, thanks very much.” Tanaka plopped himself in a chair near the counter, but with a clear view out the large windows. He tentatively kept one eye on the shop he was meant to be watching. 

Oikawa sighed, “You’re going to get fired one of these days.” He sat back down at his stool and rested his chin on his hand while aimlessly flipping through his magazine. 

“Eh, c’est la vie,” Tanaka shrugged. 

Oikawa’s eyebrow quirked, “I’m...honestly surprised you could pronounce that, and use it correctly.” 

Tanaka took another large amount of chocolate drink into his mouth and spoke around it, “I’m just full of surprises.” 

“Ugh, gross,” Oikawa muttered and went back to his reading. 

The door opened with a bang, causing the bells that should have made a pleasant tinkling sound to just be a cacophony of metal on metal. Oikawa looked up, startled, to find one of the cashiers from the Family Mart next door bounding towards the counter. 

“Give me an ex-presso,” Nishinoya said much too loudly, as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. 

Oikawa’s face contorted into something grotesque. “Okay, firstly, it’s not EX-presso, you heathen. It’s espresso. Secondly, do you really think you need that right now?” Oikawa would never admit it out loud, but he actually had a soft spot for the energetic short boy in front of him. Well, actually he had a soft spot for both the rough-and-tumble customers he had in his shop at the moment. 

Nishinoya smiled at him as he straightened out his Family Mart uniform shirt, “Alright then, what do you suggest?” 

“Good boy,” Oikawa said, only half patronizing and set to work carefully making a latte. 

Of course it seemed like today just wasn’t cut out to be a quiet or boring one and the music playing over the speakers was drowned out by Tanaka’s sudden scream of “OH SHIT!” followed by the noise of a chair falling over and the door opening. “SORRY!!!” Tanaka yelled at Oikawa as he bolted out the door and across the street. 

Nishinoya and Oikawa both turned and watched as Tanaka ran across the street, nearly meeting with an untimely end. He made it to the other side just in time to open the door to the guitar shop he worked at for an old lady and what appeared to be her grandson. 

Oikawa sighed and shook his head and muttered a not unkind, “dumbass.” He quietly went back to work on his masterpiece. 

Noya started bouncing a bit again as he waited. “So, we’ll stop by around 7, okay?” 

Oikawa nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine.” Oikawa paused and looked at Noya and focused on him, “And thanks. You guys always bring a crowd. I appreciate it.” 

“No problem!!” Noya straightened his uniform again and then asked, “So uhhh….my break is gonna be over soon….”

Oikawa grinned, “Almost done!” he put the finishing touches on the latte and then slid it over the counter to Noya. “It’ll be 450 yen,” he said. 

Noya pulled out his wallet and fished out a 1,000 bill and tossed it into the tray. He finally looked at the drink for the first time and grinned brightly, “WHOA!! Dude!! That’s so cool.” Oikawa had made a feather design with the cream. “Wait….dude, that’s so nice. Are you, feeling okay? Should I call an ambulance?” 

Oikawa yelped, “RUDE Noya-chan!! RUDE!!!” 

Noya grabbed his change and his latte and pulled up a stool to sit at the counter, right in the way if any other customers came in. “You plan on keeping this gig after classes start up again?” he asked as he took a tentative sip of his drink, followed by a hearty gulp. 

Oikawa went back to casually flicking through his magazine and answered, “I really should, but I don’t know if I can give the team as much time as I want to if I’m trying to work and take classes too. What about you?” 

“Yeah, I’ve got no choice. I need to at least have some money coming in. Ryuu’s already being too nice to me letting me crash on his floor during the weeks so I don’t need to head back to Gramps place every night. I need to see about an apartment here in Sendai soon,” Noya swished his latte around in the cup and stared at it, lost in thought. 

“You’re still going to play, right?” Oikawa wouldn’t admit it, nope, not ever, but his throat tightened just a little bit then at the thought of losing the highly skilled libero from his University volleyball team. 

At that Noya laughed and brightened, “Hell yeah! As if Daichi’d ever let me fucking quit. I’m stuck on that team until graduation or poor grades kick me off, whichever comes first.” 

Oikawa nodded and internally sighed with relief. He had a pretty great University team put together and he thought they could go pretty far in the upcoming season, barring any catastrophic incidents. “Good point. You know you’re always welcome to my study group if you need help, Noya-chan.” 

“Whatever, I’m not buying into that fake kindness of yours, asshole. I know you just need me on the team,” Noya reached out and punched Oikawa’s arm.

Oikawa yelped in pain, “OW! NOYA-CHAN!! You’re so mean!! I was just being a good senpai and Captain and here you are physically abusing me!!” Oikawa rubbed his arm and frowned, “You know, sometimes I feel like Iwa-chan told you to be mean to me like this while he’s gone.” 

Noya froze for a second but then laughed, “Iwaizumi-san? Naaahh.” They fell into a comfortable silence until Noya asked, “How are you guys holding up, anyway?” 

Oikawa went back to his magazine and feigned indifference, but his voice came out a few octaves too high, “Perfectly fine, thank you very much! I think it’s pretty obvious just by looking at me that I’m doing very well!” Noya didn’t respond and so Oikawa dropped his act, “Alright, alright. It’s….hard? But we actually are fine. He’s supposed to get back into town next week and he’ll be here all of break.” Oikawa whined, “Hokkaido’s so far away, Noya-chan.” 

“Yeah, it issssss OH SHIT!” Noya jumped up off the stool and dropped his empty cup on the counter with a thud as he ran out the door, straightening his uniform as he went. “BREAKS OVER SORRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYY!!!” 

Oikawa sighed and leaned further over the counter, practically laying on it and stretching his arms out in front of him. The storm was over, at least for now. He muttered to himself “5 more days…” as he thought about his boyfriend and how he couldn’t wait to spend the break with him. 

It wasn’t that Oikawa was lonely, exactly. Nishinoya and Sawamura Daichi were both on his University volleyball team and now that their old high school rivalries had ended, he actually got along well with both. Noya was an extremely talented player and so Oikawa gravitated to him at practice. Plus Noya’s friend Tanaka found his way into the coffee shop every day or so and he helped fill the silence too. Honestly it felt like Oikawa always had a flurry of people around him. Oikawa really wasn’t lonely, but none of them were really a perfect substitute for his Iwa-chan. 

He let out a yawn and contemplated what the chances were of another customer coming in the next 2 hours. He probably could sneak in a nap, right? Just as he convinced himself that would be a great idea the bells on the door jingled and he was brought back to reality. 

“Oikaa-kun!!” 

Oikawa perked up at the voice and found none other than Kuroo Tetsurou to be the owner. Daichi followed behind him, carefully making sure the door didn’t slam. 

“Kuroo-chan!!! And Daichi! I didn’t know you were in town, Kuroo-chan?” Oikawa had positively lit up at the sight of them. 

Kuroo walked up to the counter and casually leaned against it, attempting to look cool. “Yeah, you know, I had a hot date and all that.” Kuroo winced as Daichi slapped him on the chest, a little harder than necessary. “Hey!! Is that really any way to treat your loving boyfriend who spent 3 hours on a train just to come spend time with you?” Kuroo had a fake wounded look on his face as he held one hand to his heart. 

“Rude, Daichi. And when Kuroo-chan is always this nice too?” Oikawa’s faux offended look didn’t fool anybody as he solemnly shook his head. 

Daichi stared at both of them, “I really can’t let you two spend time together, can I?” They grinned back at him, clearly both up to no good. “I’ll take a coffee, black. Thanks,” Daichi paused and looked at Kuroo who was giving him an even more exaggerated wounded look now and he finally sighed, “And I guess whatever this one wants too.” 

Kuroo eyed the menu and suddenly had a more important question, “What I really want is to know what this Open Mic Night thing on this sign is, Oikaa-kun, is this...is this what I think it is?” Kuroo’s eyes narrowed mischievously. 

Oikawa took Kuroo’s cue and offered, “People sing songs and recite poetry and stuff. Anybody can participate, they just need to add their name to the sheet.” Oikawa grinned and offered a pen to Kuroo. 

Kuroo took the pen and wrote his name on the sheet, underneath ‘CROW.’ 

Daichi started tripping over his words, “Tetsurou...what….are you….Kuroo!! Hey!! Listen to me, what are you doing?” 

Kuroo stood up and smiled and popped the cap back on the pen. “Oh, you’ll see soon enough, love,” he blew a kiss towards Daichi and then handed the pen back to Oikawa. 

Oikawa grinned and handed the pen back to Kuroo, “Don’t you think you’ll be needing this again?” 

“Ah!! Good point, Oikaa-chan!” Kuroo took it and then reached over the counter and tore a page out of Oikawa’s order taking notepad and hurried over to a seat in the corner and began furiously scribbling down notes. 

“Just a latte then?!” Oikawa called to the corner and Kuroo waved at him in acknowledgement. “750 yen, please!” Oikawa perkily asked Daichi for the money and set to work on the order. 

Daichi paid up and bemoaned, “I can’t take him anywhere. And don’t you think I’ve forgiven you for that time you told him it would be sexy to smack my ass in public. What’s wrong with you?” 

Oikawa just laughed in a octave that was most easily heard by dogs and put the finishing touches on Kuroo’s latte while ignoring Daichi’s question. Obviously, there was nothing wrong with him. That had been hilarious, AND sexy. 

Daichi finally just gave a noncommittal grunt as he took his change and their drinks and walked over to join Kuroo at the table. 

Kuroo hurriedly wrapped his arms around the paper shielding it from Daichi’s view and cooed, “Ah, ah, ah, no peeking!” 

Daichi simply rolled his eyes and pulled a novel out of his backpack and settled in, seeing as Kuroo was clearly preoccupied. 

The whirlwind died down again and Oikawa sighed but finally decided to get to work making sure everything was ready for the upcoming rush that would happen when Tanaka and Noya’s band started playing. 

Time passed slowly in the lull, punctuated only every so often by Kuroo yelling at Daichi to stop trying to look at his paper and by Daichi growing more and more irritated with him. Oikawa liked it when Kuroo came around with Daichi. As much as he liked Daichi, and he was a great asset to his team, Kuroo really added a little extra spice to things when he was around. 

Right at 7 on the dot the door burst open again and everything turned into chaos in an instant. Tanaka and Nishinoya came in with guitar cases on their backs and Oikawa knew it was time soon. Any peace he had during the earlier hours of his shift would be long gone now. 

Daichi nodded to them both in hello, but he saw Tanaka and Noya often enough that there was no overblown hello necessary. Kuroo, on the other hand, jumped up and yelled “Hey, Hey, Hey!” before he realized he’d left his paper unattended and Daichi had carefully reached over to grab it. 

Pandemonium broke out as Kuroo tackled Daichi and tried to wrestle the paper out of his hand. Tanaka and Noya didn’t know what was going on, but without hesitation they had both taken off their guitars and had joined in. In the end as they all struggled it was finally Oikawa who walked over and effortlessly plucked the paper out of Daichi’s outstretched hand. 

Oikawa read the paper and snickered, “It’s perfect, Kuroo-chan. He’ll love it.” He folded the paper and handed it to Kuroo and then walked away without another word. 

“Did anybody ever tell you you’ve got a terrible personality?” Daichi asked after him. 

Oikawa threw a smile and wink over his shoulder and agreed, “All the time! It’s what makes me so loveable!” 

With the momentary excitement over, Tanaka and Noya finally grabbed their guitars and went over to the small raised platform in the corner that served as a stage. Noya grabbed stools while Tanaka pulled the mics out of the corner and began running the cords to the audio system. 

Oikawa was kept on his toes as customers started coming in for the free entertainment and there was a small crowd in the coffee shop by the time Tanaka and Noya finally pulled out their acoustic guitars and settled down in front of the mics. 

“Hey Sendai! We’re CROW and we’re gonna play a few songs for you tonight!” Nishinoya said into the mic, bringing an energy that was a bit too hyped up considering this wasn’t actually a rock concert. 

They started carefully playing a tune and Nishinoya sang, backed occasionally by Tanaka’s deep vocals. “Tobe Fly High!! Ase to chi to namida de, hikaru tsubasa de ima zenbu zenbu okisatte, tobe fly takaku fly saihate no mirai e…” 

Oikawa actually enjoyed their music so it was a nice background to the rest of his evening and he started to sway with the music as he continued his work. The music drowned out the bells on the door so Oikawa didn’t notice his newest customers until they were already at the counter. 

“Hello!” 

Oikawa startled and turned to find two of Karasuno High School’s third years in front of him. “Oh! Yohoo Chibi-chan, Tobio-chan!!” Oikawa waved to them. He was honestly over it at this point. He still planned to eventually crush Kageyama on the court, but that was something for the future. After a lot of internal struggle Oikawa had finally decided to just focus on something else for the time being. NOT that it meant he liked them, of course. He had found room in his heart for plenty of his old rivals but he had to draw the line somewhere! 

Kageyama offered, “Oikawa-san,” with a nod and then wasted no pleasantries in placing his order. 

Hinata, ever a ball of energy quipped, “Can I get a matcha frappe? Thanks Grand King!!” 

Oikawa clenched his teeth a little and smiled, “My pleasure!” 

After grabbing their orders they wandered over and joined the array of people clustered by the stage and Oikawa fell back into his swaying to the music. 

As their song ended Nishinoya announced what was next, “Hey, this one’s called Climber!!” He waved to Hinata and Kageyama as he noticed them join the group. 

Finally Noya and Tanaka echoed thanks into the mics and got out of the way for whoever was next up to the mic. The audience began to chatter as nobody took to the stage until finally Noya pointed out “Uhh, Kuroo, you’re next…” 

Kuroo strutted over to the stage and carefully placed himself in front of the mic. Standing tall and making an attempt at looking cool he cleared his throat and offered, “I call this piece ‘Heartbeat.’” He cleared his throat again and clearly recited, ‘Heart beats strong and true. Blood circulating through me. Only for you, love.” 

The room was silent until finally Tanaka exclaimed, “Oh! A haiku!!” 

There was some awkward muttering as Oikawa burst out laughing from his place at the counter. Daichi was silently fuming and a vein in his forehead seemed to be ready to burst. 

“What?! I put a lot of thought into that! You know, it’s like, my heart is beating only for my lover. It’s beautiful! It’s poetry!” Kuroo insisted into the microphone. The crowd wasn’t buying it as there was a smattering of polite and unenthusiastic applause. “Oh come on…” Kuroo was cut off by the bells on the door signaling yet another customer. “BO! OH MY GOD!? What the hell are you doing here?” 

Several people turned to see what the fuss was about and Bokuto greeted the room with a “HEY HEY HEY!!!” Akaashi followed and let him enjoy the spotlight while he went to get drinks for them. 

Oikawa was frozen in his spot. “That’s...Bokuto Koutarou?” 

Akaashi interrupted his thoughts, “Yes, that’s Bokuto. Do you know him?” Akaashi didn’t show much emotion but his voice was friendly and conversational. 

Oikawa shook his head, “No, but I mean, I know OF him. Who doesn’t? He’s one of the best Aces in the country.” Oikawa’s eyes followed Bokuto as he was loudly going around hugging people. Oikawa wasn’t really aware of what he was saying as the words left his mouth, “Man...I’d love to set for him…” 

Akaashi gently cleared his throat and when Oikawa turned to him he was met with daggers, “Bokuto-san needs a very specific kind of setter, I think you’d find him difficult to handle. Now about our drinks….” Akaashi carefully pulled a bill from his wallet and placed it on the tray. “We’ll have a hibiscus tea and...chamomile tea” he added as he glanced at Bokuto and his boundless energy. 

Oikawa felt chills run down his back but that intrigued him all the more. “My pleasure,” he offered icily. As he made their tea he casually said, “I’m confident I can set to anyone and bring out their best game. Maybe you’ve heard of me? I’m Oikawa Tooru, nice to meet you.” 

“Maybe you’ve heard of me? I’m Akaashi Keiji. It’s a pleasure, I’m sure,” Akaashi smiled gently, but it didn’t fool Oikawa. 

“Oh? I’m sorry, actually I haven’t heard of you,” Oikawa threw back. 

Akaashi’s smile widened, “Oh, that’s a shame. But I guess that’s probably true, seeing how I do keep a low-profile so my ace Bokuto-san can have the glory….” 

Oikawa had the sneaking suspicion that was what was going on when Akaashi had given him that look, but now that he knew it he couldn’t help himself. “Will you two be in town for long?” 

Akaashi mellowed at the sudden shift in topic and honestly answered, “A week or so. Why?” 

“Ahhhhh!! Well then!!” Oikawa clapped his hands together and gleefully challenged, “You simply must come play a pick-up game with us!” 

Akaashi’s eyes narrowed a bit as he assessed Oikawa and finally agreed, “Yes, we must.” 

Satisfied that he would have his way on the court soon enough, Oikawa handed over the teas and Akaashi quietly walked away. 

Oikawa muttered to himself, “Ha! I’ll have Noya-chan and Iwa-chan on my team, we’ll see how great you really are Akaashi Keiji….” 

The noise picked up again from the stage as Bokuto hopped up and joined Kuroo there for some impromptu stand-up of sorts. Kuroo grinned and asked, just knowing the answers would be hilarious, “So, Bo, what brings you here?” 

Bokuto stepped awkwardly up to the mic and tapped on it. The loud tapping noise cut through the room. 

Tanaka yelled, “COME ON MAN!! Never tap a mic like that!!” 

Bokuto answered a bit too quietly, “Barbeque.” The mic cracked partway through his answer and the audience remained in stunned silence. 

Kuroo grinned wider, “Barbeque? Please explain?” 

Bokuto finally dove in and started giving his rambling story, “Yeah, man! Barbeque!! So I really had this craving and was looking online about the best places and I found this news article that Sendai has the best beef tongue and I was like ‘Akaaaaashi!! Let’s drive to Sendai!!’ And Akaaaashi was like ‘Bokuto-san why would we drive to Sendai, you know that’s a 4 and a half hour drive, right?’ and so I was like ‘Dude!! Beef tongue!! And ROAD TRIP??!!!’ And Akaaaashi shook his head at me like he does but I finally convinced him it was the actual best idea ever and so even though he wanted to take the Shink I got him to agree that it would be way more fun if we drove up!! And it was!! I was in charge of the radio and I have great taste in music and….” 

Kuroo couldn’t handle it anymore, he burst out laughing like a hyena and a lot of the audience started to join in. “Bo, I’m sorry, man. You...you drove 4 and a half hours for Barbeque?” 

Bokuto didn’t seem to fully understand that they were laughing at him, not with him and he enthusiastically gave a fist pump and said “Yeah!” 

Kuroo tried to compose himself, “And...Akaashi agreed to this?” Kuroo searched for Akaashi in the crowd and found him expertly avoiding his gaze. “Man...that must really be true love. I’m sorry Daichi, I’m gonna need to write you another poem or something but I don’t think I can beat that.” 

Daichi shook his head silently and Bokuto bounced up and down until finally Tanaka and Noya started jeering, “BoooooooooooooOoooooooooOoooo!! Get off the stage!!! No talent!! Boooooooo!!” 

Oikawa was listening to this all unfold with utter astonishment. Was Bokuto a crazy person? Was Akaashi a masochist? What in the world was going on? There had been some pretty interesting Open Mic Nights but this one was taking the cake. It was like he was surrounded by idiots and weirdos and the chaos just didn’t stop. 

Bokuto finally bounced off the stage and joined Akaashi at a table but Kuroo seemed to really enjoy his spot behind the mic so he improvised some more. He began a little dance and sang, “P-P-A-P. I have a pen. I have an apple…” Tanaka and Noya didn’t hold back and started the booing again. “Alright! Alright!! Noya, Tanaka, OIKAA-KUN!! Get up here!” He waved them all over like he had some great big secret to tell them. 

Oikawa sighed but with no customers at the door he figured it would be alright. He joined them on stage and Kuroo told them his plan. Oikawa, Kuroo and Noya stepped up to the mics and Tanaka grabbed his guitar and joined them. Finally in unison they all sang “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality….” 

Bokuto whooped from the crowd and joined in singing from his seat. Slowly more and more voices started singing too, because it was impossible not to. Even Kageyama was singing from his seat with Hinata. 

Nishinoya sang out particularly loud on “THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING VERY VERY FRIGHTENING ME!!!” and nobody was paying any attention to the door as it opened and a man slipped quietly into the shop. 

The newcomer stood at the back, arms crossed and a broad smile on his face as he watched Oikawa and the others singing on the stage. 

Oikawa finished out the song with “Nothing really matters, nothing really matters to meeeeeeeeee…” when he finally looked up and saw the man who had just joined them, he gasped, “IWA-CHAN!??” Oikawa’s mind went blank and he didn’t care that everybody was staring at him and he didn’t care that Tanaka had cut off playing the ending notes of the song and he didn’t care about any of it. He practically dove off the stage and ran. 

Iwaizumi opened his arms and caught Oikawa’s embrace and the crowd filled with Oikawa’s friends and maybe a newfound enemy or two all let out various cheers and “awwwwwww”s and Oikawa just refused to let go of Iwaizumi for a long time. 

Finally they loosened their embrace and Iwa, with a hint of mischief in his eyes said, “Well, that’s nice and all, but actually I just wanted to order a coffee….” 

Oikawa yelped out a wounded, “IWA-CHAN!!” as he smacked him on the shoulder and pouted. Oikawa let out a haughty ‘humph’ and walked over to the counter and began making Iwa-chan’s drink. 

Kuroo took that as his cue to offer to the audience, “Well, that’s it for tonight folks! Thanks for comin’ out!” 

Tanaka set to work unplugging the mics and putting the sound system back to the normal coffee shop music and everybody dissolved into their own little conversations as the atmosphere relaxed for the first time in hours. 

Oikawa handed over Iwa’s drink and said, unable to hide the sparkle in his eyes, “What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming until next week?” 

Iwa took a sip of his drink and let out a content ‘aaaaahhh’ and then without breaking character, “I wanted a good coffee.” 

Oikawa growled, “Iwa-chan!!” 

Iwaizumi threw back his head and in a clear laugh finally admitted, “I couldn’t wait anymore. I finished up everything I needed to so I came down early. I see I caught you in the act red-handed though!” 

Oikawa’s mouth dropped open and he gawked, “Caught me doing what?” 

“Having fun! You know you’re not supposed to do that without me around. Who will stop you when you start doing stupid things?” Iwa’s face was gentle as he soaked in the sight of Oikawa. “Hey, do you think your boss would throw a fit if you closed early?” 

Oikawa’s face lit up and he threw caution to the wind, “Don’t care!” He cleared his throat and spoke loudly, “Yoohoo!! We’ll be closing in 10 minutes! Thank you all for coming!!” He was met with some grumbles but he ignored them and went back to focusing on Iwa-chan. “Done!” He had a smug grin on his face. 

“You know, I actually love when you take charge like that,” Iwa muttered and it was like a prelude for a welcome yet to come. 

Oikawa smiled and flipped his hair with his hand, “And here I thought you just liked me because I’m pretty!” 

The crowd thinned out of the shop quickly. Kageyama and Hinata rushed off with Kageyama just giving Iwaizumi a quick “Iwaizumi-san” on the way out. Bokuto, Akaashi, Kuroo and Daichi all filtered out too, stopping by for quick goodbyes on their way out. Akaashi and Oikawa glared at each other as he left. Eventually the place was empty except for Tanaka, Noya, Oikawa and Iwaizumi. 

“What was that all about?” Iwa asked, totally out of the loop of whatever was going on with Oikawa and Akaashi. 

Oikawa closed one eye and scratched the back of his head, “I miiiiiight have challenged them to a match because that one guy who looks like an Owl is Bokuto Koutarou and I said I wanted to set for him once and that other guy, Akaashi is apparently his setter and got all uppity about how good he is so I’ve gotta shut him down. You’ll help me, right, Iwa-chan?!” 

Iwaizumi shook his head but laughed a little, “You are absolutely ridiculous. And yes, we’ll shut them down.” 

Noya and Tanaka had finally packed up their stuff and set everything back the right away and were heading out when Noya offered to join, “Oh! Me too!! Count me in!” 

Tanaka offered, “Look, I might be a little rusty since I’m not some big University player but if you need another Wing I’m totally in for it!” 

Oikawa brightened, he had a pretty good team shaping up for this showdown. “Thanks!” His eyes narrowed and he said a little too seriously, “We’ll kill them.” 

Noya focused on Iwaizumi and said, “Hey man, welcome back. Don’t be a stranger, okay? I can’t be expected to keep a leash on this weirdo all the time, you know.” He smiled brightly so it was clear there was no real harm in it. 

Iwaizumi laughed and promised he would be around for a while, but then his face went serious and genuine and he looked at Tanaka and Noya and said, “Thanks you guys. I really appreciate it.” 

Tanaka gave him a light punch on the shoulder as he walked past and said “No problem, man.” He walked to the door and held it open, waiting for Noya to join him. 

Noya said, “Well then, I guess I’m clocking out for a while. See ya!” Noya joined Tanaka at the door and then pointed at Oikawa, “Let us know about that game, yeah?” 

Oikawa waved them off and agreed, “Yeah!” 

Finally just the two of them left, Oikawa snaked his way into Iwaizumi’s arms again. But something was bugging him, so he had to ask, “Iwa-chan...what was that all about?” 

Iwaizumi didn’t answer and instead he melted into the chocolate brown of Oikawa’s eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. He pressed his lips to Oikawa’s and refused to let go. Which was fine, really. Oikawa didn’t want him to let go anyway. 

~~~

~~~

~~~

~~~

“Hey, Nishinoya, wasn’t it?” Iwaizumi approached the 1st year University student a few weeks before he started classes. 

“Oh! You were Seijou’s Ace, weren’t you? Yeah, I’m Noya, what’s up?” 

Iwaizumi sighed and finally decided to cut to the chase, “Look, I know this might sound weird, and I don’t want to force you into anything, but I just thought you should know, since you’ll be playing with him from now on…” 

Noya looked confused but asked, “Is this about Oikawa-san?” 

“Yeah. So the thing is...he overworks himself. He gets too caught up in it and he tends to hurt himself and I’m worried about him, yeah, but well….Anyway. I just thought you should know.” Iwaizumi stood there awkwardly for a few seconds and then turned to leave. 

The gears in Noya’s head turned and he finally said, “Yeah. I’m on it. Don’t worry!” 

Iwaizumi broke a bit at that and decided to be a little more truthful, “Thanks, I know it’s weird. You don’t know us or anything, but he was...I think he was really lonely last year. And he worked too hard and hurt his knee again and I’m in University up in Hokkaido so there’s only so much I can do about it, and all our old High School friends went to other Universities so I thought...you seem like you have fun so….” 

Noya laughed at that and while it was strange, to be approached by a stranger like this and told all this stuff about his new teammate, he didn’t think it would really be a problem. “That’s true! I do have fun!!” He suddenly turned a little serious, “But man, I should warn you...things with me around can get a little...hectic...or so I’m told.” 

Iwaizumi smiled, “Good. Oikawa thrives on that.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always my long and unnecessary notes of citations and research!! YAY!!!
> 
> *Family Mart is one of the large chains of convenience stores in Japan. 
> 
> *Sendai University specializes in physical education. They offer paths in things like sports coaching, personal training, as well as things like sports management and sports information strategy. While not a highly prestigious school, it’s local for the Miyagi Haikyu!! Boys and so it seems like a good fit for many of them. It’s almost certain that Oikawa could have gone to any number of other Universities with his skills and intelligence, but I’ve placed him here because in my mind he’s studying with the ultimate goal of coaching, and we know that he doesn’t place much on where he goes, it’s more about what he can do with the team there and heading whichever group he chooses to victory. 
> 
> *Okay so the thing is - the RIDICULOUS and AMAZING thing is - in the volume release promotional sketches that Furudate-sensei draws, Oikawa and Kuroo are often teamed up together to be salty about not getting solo covers on the manga volumes, even though they are Captains. It’s now basically canon from Furudate that Kuroo calls him “Oikaa-kun” and Oikawa calls Kuroo “Kuroo-chan.” And I love it so how could I not use that??
> 
> *The song Noya sings is “Fly High!!” by BURNOUT SYNDROME and it served as the 4th Opening song to the anime Haikyu!! The song they mention they will play next, “Climber” is by Galileo Galilei and was the 3rd End song to Haikyu!!
> 
> *Kuroo is a dork. Here is his haiku in a more artistic format for your viewing pleasure: 
> 
> Heart beats strong and true
> 
> Blood circulating through me
> 
> Only for you, love 
> 
> *Totally not a necessary note, but the ‘let’s drive a ridiculous long amount to Sendai for BBQ” is inspired by an old story that Tanaka’s stage play actor, Shiota Kouhei, shared on his blog ages ago about his University days. He said that him and some friends rented a car and drove 14 hours (!!!!) for BBQ and stopped and had beef tongue in Sendai. I was thinking of ways to get Bokuto up there and randomly remembered this story and felt as if it were the most Bokuto thing ever. 
> 
> *I don’t think anybody doesn’t know what PPAP is, but if you haven’t seen it, I guess watch the video. It’s by Pikotaro. 
> 
> *The song Kuroo gets everybody to sing is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I imagine everybody knows it, but if not, it’s a classic. And catch. And great for karaoke.


End file.
